Best of Friends
by thechosen1
Summary: Spuffy, Totally AU: no vamps, no monsters. Buffy and Xander are getting married after having been friends forever. Nothing can come between them, except the love of their best friend. SB, some BX


Best of Friends Chapter 1- I do  
  
It was hot...Sunnyhell hot. It was easily 98 degrees of dry heat and Spike did not understand how everyone around him looked like they were comfortable.  
  
"Do you, Alexander Harris, take this woman, Buffy Anne Summers, to be your lawful wedded wife? To have and to hold..."  
  
Spike watched on, as his two best friends joined hands. Xander and Buffy were getting married, and he was losing his mind. He'd seen it coming of course. All the years they'd been friends, best friends at that, he should have known that eventually this would happen. He watched on as their feelings for each other seemed to shift a little at a time, from friendship to romance. Their once playful banter all too suddenly became hidden with secret meaning. He started noticing that she would smile at him sometimes, in a way that was different then ever before. It was a secret smile, laden with desire. Why did Spike notice all this? Perhaps it was because it was the same way he looked at her.  
  
Spike shifted his stance, tugging at the collar of his tuxedo. The words of the minister were becoming more distant by the moment. The heat of the sun danced on his forehead, causing little beads of sweat to drip down his face.  
  
He noticed that she had turned her head in his direction. She lifted the long veil that covered her face, offering him a smile. Xander continued looking towards the minister, not taking notice of her actions. She walked towards where he stood on the side of the Gazebo in the center of the beautifully decorated garden. Moving slowly she finally stood before him, her face lifting up towards his. "I'm making a mistake," she said, raising her small hand up to his face and pulling him down towards her. Their lips met with a crash as they exchanged the burning desire that had been consuming them both. He lifted her small frame off of the ground, her legs wrapping tight around his body... "Spike" she cried... "God! Spike!"...  
  
"Spike...Spike!" Willow was poking him in the ribs, finally bringing him back to reality. "You okay?" She whispered while still smiling, trying not to call any attention to herself. He simply nodded and tried concentrate on the ceremony.  
  
He found it almost impossible to do. He looked out into the small crowd. Every one dressed in their Sunday best, most were people he'd never seen before. He recognized a few people on Buffy's side, and there was Joyce and Dawn of course. He assumed that many of the rest were people that she worked with. Perhaps that was why he was so uncomfortable. How could someone like Spike be comfortable surrounded by so many Fed's? It was almost his reason for not coming at all, or at least a decent excuse in his mind, but he knew that he couldn't do that, not to either of them.  
  
Her father hadn't come. He doubted from the onset that he would, but secretly he hoped he might make a guest appearance. Despite the fact that she said she didn't care, he knew that she was hoping for him to give her away. Instead it had been Rupert Giles to walk her down the isle. Rupert was Buffy's Yoda. He was her confidant, and friend. He was also the closest thing to a father that Buffy had ever known. She met Rupert while still in high school, during one of those career day groups. He'd seen the fighter behind her eyes.  
  
Buffy never thought she'd work in the field, but she took a strange liking to Giles, who now seemed to be a big part of her life. She could talk to him about things that she couldn't go to her mom with, and he understood, always offering the best advice he could and always ready to listen. He was also the first one to tell her when she'd fucked up, she appreciated that in a person. Giles, who'd worked for the FBI for years, suggested she train in the martial arts, and kept in contact with her throughout the years. While she had been mediocre in just about everything else, once it came down to fists, Buffy was among the best. She had in her the heart for battle and an aggression like no one he had seen in a long while, despite her size and small frame.  
  
"...do you Buffy and Summers take this man..."  
  
He watched her face as her eyes lit up. She was so beautiful in her white dress, her shoulders exposed. She was beautiful always really, but today she was a goddess. Soft ringlets of blond draped down her face, her lips shiny and soft...Spike was madly in love with this woman and she was marrying his best friend.  
  
"If there is anyone here today who believes that these two should not be married...speak now..."  
  
Spike knew this was his chance...his only moment...but he couldn't do it to either of them. How could he? After all that they'd both done for him. He knew he'd had chances before...plenty of them. All the times they'd been alone. He'd had plenty of opportunities for stolen moments, opportunities to speak his mind, to tell her how he felt. He let them go. Xander was his friend, he couldn't have done that. Now he watched from the shadows, as the sun dance off of her skin.  
  
"...Speak now, or forever hold your peace."  
  
His peace was held. She was lost to him.  
  
TBC 


End file.
